Other Activities (2013)

This is the 2013 activities list. The 2014 list will be published in June.

There are lots of additional sub-projects planned to take place over the period that we are digging at Basing House.

We’ve been writing descriptions of each of the planned sub-projects, so that you can see what we’re going to be up to.

For more information about dates, and other special events, check the Events Calendar.

Sub-Projects (2013)

Digitisation Project

Gareth Beale will be working on digitisation. He’ll be heading up a team carrying out computational photography techniques to record objects. This is an opportunity to learn about things like Reflectance Transformation Imaging, photogrammetry, and all sorts of other methods that have long names! For example, we’d like to record all of the corbels that are mounted in one of the buildings on the site.

Finds Identification and Recording

Jude Jones will be working on Finds, and is happy to have volunteers work with her, to learn about finds identification, recording, marking, and archiving.

Building Survey

Lizzie Richley will be carrying out a survey of the standing ruins in the Old House, and across the rest of the site. She’ll be using total stations, and other equipment, that you may wish to have a go at using.

Geophysical Survey

Lizzie Richley and Clare Allen will be carrying out a geophysical survey of Basingstoke Common, to try to find evidence of the Civil War Siege of Basing House.

Education Videos

Chris Elmer is going to be producing a series of educational videos for community groups to use as refreshers for particular archaeological tasks, such as setting up a dumpy level or drawing a section. These will be made available on the University of Southampton website after the excavation. We’re working closely with another University of Southampton excavation to make these videos. Half of the videos will be made at Basing House, and half at Portus in Italy. This is the original Roman port for Rome, and the university has been carrying out a huge excavation there for the last few years. You can read more about the project on their website: http://www.portusproject.org/

Festival of British Archaeology

Chris Elmer will be running family activities, in particular open days on the following dates:

These open days are part of the Festival of British Archaeology. Read more here.

Artist in Residence

Peter Driver is an artist who is based at Winchester School of Art, he’ll be on site creating Zines every day. These Zines are self-published magazines, which are made quickly using photocopiers. They’re a great way to record what happens each day on site, and will be added to the excavation archive after the dig. Peter will also be working on woodcuts (when he finds time!).

Bones Identification Day

On the 8th August 2013Ellie Williams and her team of osteology experts are coming to Basing House for one day only. The team will be using the University of Southampton bones collection to teach osteology for the day. Bring along your own bones for identification! Read more here.

Testing Handheld Devices for Archaeological Recording

Meg Davis will be on site on the 1st August 2013 to test the viability of using touchscreen tablets for archaeological recording, as part of her 3rd year Archaeology degree. Come along and find out more about her project. Read more here.